Generosity, Reciprocity, and Transparency

Before I delve into today's topic, I would like to briefly touch on the related subtopic of transparency. I am relatively new to this medium of blogging, but I must say that one of the potential problems that I have noticed is the lack of transparency. I am referring to the lack of accountability that happens when we post comments under a pseudonym. The problem that I have observed with this wall of anonymity, is that people can say just about anything and not have to deal with the consequences of these words. Words are powerful and we all should be willing to say them through our real name. There is a good reason that newspapers require the name and address of any person that is going to have their opinion published - social accountability. So, please use your real name when commenting on this blog, I thank you.

In the spirit of the giving season I would like to look at a pair of important topics within the field of anthropology, which are generosity and reciprocity. The act of giving to another, can build strong social bonds that contributes to a healthy and vibrant community. I hope that we all have experienced the power of giving someone a gift that brought us more joy and fulfillment than any gift that we have ever received. I believe that the power of giving is not appreciated to its true potential within this materialistic culture of accumulation. My personal belief on this characteristic of our society is that the ideology of the accumulation of wealth has lead us astray. A gift can symbolize many different things, but the intention of the giver is what I want to focus on here. When we give a gift to someone does it have strings of conditions attached to it? If so, I would say that it is not a gift but actually a mechanism of manipulation. Are we giving away gifts and thus building stronger social bonds with those in our lives, or are we giving away means that allow us to get what we really want in return?

I think we can apply these questions to our personal lives or the greater societal context, and find interesting potential answers. Why are we giving what we are giving, and are we truly giving it away?

This topic deserves much more time than I have at the moment, but this will hopefully get us started.

May we all have a healthy and joyful season of giving, and may we all think about the tacit aspects of our society that we are creating through the giving that we do. This blog is about sharing with each other to create the world that we want to experience, and I thank you for your words and the gifts that they are. Words are powerful...